Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Previously, although my contempt for such people has been more than clear, I have refrained from using the 's' word when it came to Trump's brainwashed minions. I have refrained from calling Trump supporters stupid, but there comes a point where you just have to say enough is enough. Those who call for civility in discourse on the subject of Trump with his supporters and apologists are just inviting for more if not begging for more manifestations of stupidity and the disaster that tolerance and enabling of Trump will inevitably bring. The sign in today's meme is a sign of the times if there ever was one. To not call out this sign for what it reflects is asking for an escalation of more of the same and worse.

I've encountered enough Trumpies to know that Trump supporters don't make their claims and embrace the meanings of their statements because they are trying to be outrageous, mean-spirited, or bigoted. They make their statements because they actually believe them to be true. That they often can't form coherent sentences to express their mental chaos is a symptom of how they got to the sad little worlds they live in. Hence, the sign.

I've had this meme on file for some time. It sat in computer storage until Friday morning when a friend sent it it to me along with the quote from Martin Luther King Jr's 1963 "Strength To Love" book. The quote was the missing piece that I needed to use the meme as a Midnight Meme Of The Day. It's not only perfect for the times but it demonstrates what a prophet MLK was. The fact that I'm using the quote of an African-American to describe Trump supporters is a little extra side bonus in that it will irritate them all the more. King, himself said he didn't consider himself "inextricably bound to either party" but he made his feelings about the Republican Party's 1964 racist "Goldwater" convention very clear. He minced no words. Also, he grew up in the hood-wearing Dixiecrat south before they took Nixon's invitation and joined up with today's Republican Party, so, there was no love there either. By the time King was murdered, both parties were in the process of choosing their futures. Trump was inevitable.

Better to be unborn than untaught, for ignorance is the root of misfortune.
- Plato

What Would Plato Say About, For Example, Cutting Food Stamps?

The Republican position on food stamps is to cut the program back by $40 billion. If the U.S. had a political party that represented working families instead of just wealthy campaign donors, it's position would be to raise taxes on multi-millionaires to stimulate the economy and get people off food stamps by providing a vibrant economy that creates jobs. Instead, we have a Wall Street-dependent Democratic Party who's response to the Republican demands is to offer a smaller number of billions in cuts. A compromise will ruin the lives of thousands of struggling families, already victims of an untenable economy created to please extreme right ideologues and billionaires who know how to buy Members of Congress.

Are the two parties the same? No, the Republican plan will starve far more people than the Democratic plan. Is that enough of a reason to vote for Democrats? Yes, that is the question. And we're back at the old lesser-of-two evils narrative. Do we have a right to expect a congressional party filled with brilliant, competent and dedicated public servants like Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Alan Grayson (D-FL)? Can we refuse to settle for anything less?

Plato, a student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, died about 350 years before Jesus was born. Nonetheless someone took notes when he was saying, "All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince." He was very much ahead of his time-- and our own. Do they teach his philosophy is schools any longer? Are there questions about him on the standardized No Child Left Behind tests?

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors," Plato taught, also phrased at other times as "The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men" and, more succinctly, "Your silence gives consent."

Plato also hoped for high calibre political leaders, people like Alan Grayson, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley… "There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands."

He wanted selfless public servants with strong characters. Think of Democratic Party leaders like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Steve Israel, Joe Crowley, Steny Hoyer-- and then head in the exact opposite direction: "All the gold which is under or upon the earth," exclaimed Plato, "is not enough to give in exchange for virtue." As for empathy, two of his best remembered quotes is "Not to help justice in her need would be an impiety" and "The community which has neither poverty nor riches will always have the noblest principles."